Life, love and lore at Reunited in Love concert

MANILA, Philippines - The a cappella curtain-raiser Reunited, the hit song from the R&B duo of Peaches and Herb, was not what struck me at the Reunited in Love, the Valentine’s Day reunion concert of the Circus Band (Hajji Alejandro, Pat Castillo, Jacqui Magno, Tillie Moreno and Basil Valdez), New Minstrels (Chad Borja, Ray-Ann Fuentes, Ding Mercado, Louie Reyes and Eugene Villaluz) and Ambivalent Crowd (Celeste Legaspi). The segue, MacArthur Park, was what jolted me out of the innervating spell after the gridlock traffic my husband and I braved to get to PICC in the nick of time. This Jimmy Webb composition from 1967 was inspired by a break-up at a park (which we salute every time we pass by Wilshire Blvd.) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.

The song was much lambasted by the literati because of its confused metaphors and sentimental lyrics. However, the classically-structured cantata with multiple movements suited the taste of the legendary Irish actor Richard Harris, who wanted a signature song for his pop music debut. The last song that Webb presented to Harris was MacArthur Park, originally written for The Association, who rejected it outright because of its length, complex structure and unorthodox lyrics. What followed, of course, is history, and the song has become iconic for the ups and downs of life, love and lore — which is every man’s story — including that of the 11 artists who came to relive our chanson de gestes (song of deeds) through their music.

The first cluster with Maestro Ryan Cayabyab’s Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika (Hajji’s signature crowd pleaser) as organizing song, collaged Gulong ng Palad, Laging Buhay ang Buhay, Saan Ako Nagkamali, Nakapagtataka (Hajji), Tubig/Tuliro/Minsan medley (Ding, Eugene and Celeste), climaxing into Umagang Kay Ganda (Tillie and Ray-Ann). With Tillie still hitting those high notes and Ray-Ann still jazzing those moves on stage, the best was yet to come for the golden boys and girls in the audience.

The second cluster with the American rock band Doobie Brothers’ Listen to the Music as organizing song, pastiched See You There (Ding), Somewhere in Time (Pat), A House is Not a Home (Louie) and Let’s Stay Together (Ray-An), ascending into the Michel Legrand medley (Basil, Louie, Jacqui and Pat). Hearing Basil’s plaintive Pieces of Dream made us sigh as we went “a wondering, wandering, stumbling, tumbling” for all the yesterdays we can no longer recover.

With the third cluster and its organizing Gary Granada classic Salamat Musika, weaving Kapantay Ay Langit/Araw-Araw Gabi-Gabi medley (Hajji and Chad), Ngayon at Kailanman (Basil), Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal (Celeste) and Ikaw Lang (Chad), the group reminisced the many weddings where they sang. And we remembered ours in 1982, with Basil’s Greg Canseco hits rendered by the St. Pancratius chapel choir amidst the torrential rains of June.

The concert’s curtain closers — The Gathering (all), The Association medley (gentlemen), Disco Queen medley (ladies) and the Earth, Wind and Fire medley (all). Earth, Wind and Fire has spanned the musical genres of R&B, soul, funk, jazz, disco, pop, rock, Latin, African and gospel — which is what the Circus Band, New Minstrels and Ambivalent crowd have done in the Philippines, so it was only fitting and proper that they exited with the American band’s Boogie Wonderland.

The senior citizens who filed out of the plenary hall were bowed with the years of struggling with life, love and lore (famous line from the hymn of  UST’s Faculty of Arts and Letters), but having endured so many nights and days for faith, family and friends (including this evening’s red letter hustle and bustle to listen to the idols of their youth), they have vowed their MacArthur Park’s chorus despite the mixed-up metaphors and mushy lyrics of their own lives:

I will take my life into my hands and I will use it

I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it

I will have the things that I desire

And my passion flow like rivers through the sky.

And after all the loves of my life

After all the loves of my life

I’ll be thinking of you

And wondering why.

Ding’s spiel has clinched it: That life is surprise and love is hope. And the musical lore rewritten by Reunited in Love will go on.